by tentagil » Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:12 am
Beginning of a Bad Day
You know it’s gonna be a bad day when you step out of the stasis pod and into a fire fight. Especially when said stasis pod is located in the most secure location within a living battleship with a bad attitude.
“Some one want to explain to me how these Decepticreeps managed to get in here?”
The sound of blaster fire ricocheting around the room nearly drowned out the question. Luckly the boss has damn good audio receptors.
“Wish I knew Tumbler, right now I’m just worried about getting them out. Wavecutter is already down and the others are still sealed in stasis. Grab your gun and start shooting.”
Sky Sentry, always cool under fire, though from the edge in his voice even he was a bit fazed. There wasn’t another bot in the Autobot forces with sensors as finely tuned as his, and apparently our uninvited guests had snuck in under his radar as well. I would have laughed if I wasn’t so worried about getting fragged.
I leapt across the room and grabbed a blaster from a wall rack, rolling away again as a barrage of fire scorched the metal next to me. I cursed softly as I slid into a defensive position behind a damaged control console. Wavecutter our science officer was lying a few feet away with a smoking hole through his chest. The soft pulse of his optics let me know he was still alive, in stasis lock, but at least there was a chance to revive him. Of course we had to survive ourselves first.
“Why the hell aren’t Bombshelter’s internal defense active yet?”
“That’s just one of many questions I’d really like answers for when this is over. These guys do have some kind of cloak up though that’s disrupting my sensors.”
I glanced over the console trying to judge the opposition; at least four indistinct shapes were hovering at the end of the corridor. Somehow no matter how hard I tried to focus on them my optics just seemed to slide off of them. I sent a few blasts downrange before ducking back down as return fire peppered the console, sending chunks of brunt metal to shoot over my head. I was pretty sure that it wasn’t gonna hold up much longer.
“Any ideas boss?”
“Not at the moment. We’re out numbered, not even sure how many we’re actually facing, and they are holding the only way out. I’d like to try an EM pulse, but this close to the stasis pods I’m likely to fry Drop Point and Graft.”
“So why don’t I lead them somewhere a little safer then?”
“Are you nuts Tumbler? Never mind don’t answer that. They’d turn you to slag before you got halfway down the corridor.”
“Wanna bet?”
I was already over the console and heading towards the enemy when I heard him start to yell and curse. I’ve never really been one to over think things before acting.
“Damnit Tumbler, what in Primus’s name do you think your doing?”
To be honest I didn’t have clue. I just new I’d rather be moving then sitting behind a hunk of burnt slag waiting to die. Lucky for me these Decepticons were lousy shots, unfortunately I was a single target in a small corridor getting easier to hit the closer I got. I was halfway down the hall when the first blast slammed into my shoulder.
“Hey boss, I guess I win.”
I leapt sideways and transformed just as another shot scored across my flank. Quips and big talk aside I wasn’t in the mood to get scrapped today. As soon as wheels hit metal I was moving forward again, and fast. I shot among them before they could get another lock on me, slammed one of them against the wall and kicked it in to high gear heading for the exit. Praying the whole time the idiots decided to follow me, and that the Boss was on their tails with his little bag of tricks powered up and ready to fire.
“Damnit Tumbler, what in Primus’s name do you think your doing?”
I swear one of these days that bot is gonna run out of luck. I watched in apprehension as he sped towards the Decepticons, then smiled a bit as he slammed one into the bulkhead and buzzed by them. He wasn’t the brightest bot I’d ever met, but Tumbler had speed and guts. And as I watched the cloaked forms head after him I just hoped they kept him alive long enough for me to take them out.
I leapt over the console I’d been covering behind, pausing only for a quick swipe over the panels on the two stasis pods before I headed after them, stopping for a moment at the corner to scan for any that may have stayed in ambush. I couldn’t lock onto them with the cloak on, but no one is truly invisible, when the scan came up clean I continued on, my sensors keyed up, looking and listening for any sign of my quarry. I leapt from the ship’s air lock into the bright sunlight of the planet in time to see the dust cloud trail they’d left behind. I launched into the air and transformed, my wings catching the wind, thrusters launching me after them at top speed. It didn’t take long to get within visual, and they were gaining on Tumbler.
Tumbler if you can hear me stop and drop into stasis.
You got it Boss, but make it fast, these guys are almost on top of me.
Don’t worry, I’ve got them.
He dropped off my sensors as he cut power and dropped himself into stasis, and I dropped to the ground just a few hundred yards behind the Decepticons that were already reverting to bot mode and starting to aim all blasters at his prone form.
The pulse generator was already spun up, and I almost grinned as I cut it loose, sending a massive wave of electromagnetic energy rippling outward in a controlled arc right into the heart of their ranks. They never saw what hit them, just started to twitch as the cloaking field fell and all their systems started to go haywire. Their guns hit the ground, quickly followed by their shaking forms.
It wouldn’t stop them for long, their system would work around it and be back up in seconds, but it was enough time to even things out a bit. I could already hear the tell tale sound of rotors cutting through the air.
“Time to get up Tumbler, the cavalry is on the way.”
He blinked back into my sensor array as he stepped out of stasis, he laughed as he sprinted past the Decepticons. I heard a groan and then a growl as two of them grabbed at their weapons and spun after him. They’d recovered faster then I’d expected.
“You should have gotten farther away Autobot, we’re still gonna crush you, and you don’t have nothing to hide behind this time.,” one roared as he brought his gun to bear on us.
“Neither do you scrappile. And I got bigger guns.”
Drop Point’s gruff voice made the Decepticons jerk, and I just smiled. His blaster wavered in the air as he looked up at the heavily armed bot dropping to the ground beside us; two heavy cannons aimed and ready.
“We still outnumber you,” the creeps voice didn’t hold a lot of certainty.
The blast echoed through the surrounding canyons as a blast from the cannon slammed into one of the other two recovering Decepticons. His body crumpled as his chest burst into shrapnel. I cursed as an unnatural silence followed. If a fire fight was going to erupt that was the time.
“Looks like the sides are even now. Want to call it draw, or you want to push it?”
I could almost smell the fear radiating off them at that point. Things had fallen apart for them fast. And these weren’t normal Decepticon assault troops, these guys were infiltration and sabotage. They weren’t used to real battle.
“N..n..No, Decepticons, we are leaving.”
“What about him,” one asked pointing to their fallen comrade.
“Pick him up or leave him, I don’t care. We are out of here. And you haven’t heard the last of this Autobots. Our leader will deal with you later.”
“I’m sure he’ll deal with you first.” I yelled out as they took flight. I noticed at least two of them tensed at the comment, I kept a sensor lock on them until they were well out of range for any kind of reattack; then turned to return to the ship.
“Well lets get home and see if we can figure out what in Primus’s name that was all about and why the hell Bombshelter didn’t alert us.”
